MC5-Site

Marsh Creek Site 5 Overview



**__Overview__** Marsh Creek is located in the upper Chattahoochee watershed within the city of Sandy Springs, Georgia. Our study site, site 5, is situated immediately down stream from a bridge crossing on Brandon Mill Road between North Mill Road and Seville Chase. We visited site 5 a total of four times during the month of June 2012 to gather water samples for chemical analysis along with recording many physical characteristics of both the stream and it's surrounding environment. **__Land Uses/Activities and Impervious Cover__** The land use and impervious surface survey was conducted in the areas immediately adjacent to site 5. In this location the stream flows through an area that consists mainly of single family homes that are separated by small patches of forest. Site 5 is affected by a busy two lane road as well as a short side street. The side street is a new neighborhood that has a small amount of new home construction underway. If one is looking downstream, the construction is closest to the right bank of the Marsh Creek. Other than these variables, site 5 is not being affected by any other major land disturbing activities. Please follow this to see a map of land use for the entire Marsh Creek watershed.

**__ General Waterbody and Watershed Characteristics __** Group 5 conducted a site survey on June 21, 2012 to gain a good overview of the waterbody and watershed characteristics. The bridge located at the upstream end of the reach is the only hydrologic modification of our study section. There are approximately 30 feet of stream straightening at the location of the bridge. While looking down stream, the right bank has a vegetation buffer that consists of many small to medium sized shrubs along with a few types of creeping vines. The presence of large trees on the right bank is noticeably lacking. The left bank vegetation barrier varies greatly from that of the right bank. The left bank has a much more gentle slope down to the stream than that of the right bank with a vegetation buffer that is dominated by large deciduous trees with an occasional evergreen mixed in. Bank erosion was present at site 5 and appeared to be limited to the right bank. A large amount of trash found around site 5 which was not surprising due to its close proximity to a busy road. While there was a fair amount of trash, none of it was large pieces but mostly various types of food and drink containers. During the study period, we found no signs of chemical or oil spills and saw no fish or wildlife kills. = =

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